Australia’s Anti-Defamation Commission submitted a letter to Netflix Australia in an effort to have Jimmy Carr’s His Dark Material stand-up special taken down from the streaming platform. Carr came under fire last week when a particularly offensive joke about the murder of the Roma people during the Holocaust from his special was shared on social media.
Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission Dr. Dvir Abramovich elaborated on the sentiment behind the Commission’s decision to petition Netflix, “This is beyond disgusting and abhorrent. It is cruel and indecent, and will only add to the ongoing racism and prejudice against the Roma community. The descendants of those Hundreds of thousands of G*****s, Roma, and Traveller people who were subjected to slave labor, sterilization, and genocide at the hands of the Nazis are not laughing at this thoughtless, immoral, and insulting segment. For anyone to mock the systematic extermination of a people crosses all red lines and should be condemned in the strongest possible way. It’s hard to believe this vulgar material, which defiles the memory of the dead, actually made it to the airwaves and that it did not raise any red flags amongst the producers or executives. Netflix should have known better, but given their track record with Historical Roasts, perhaps Holocaust abuse and trivialization is par for the course. By continuing to stream this outrage, Netflix is not only profiting from the cheapening and debasing of the Holocaust of the lowest kind, but they are contributing to the ongoing prejudice against G***y communities in Europe who are still suffering persecution. It makes no difference that this is a comedian to whom we usually give a lot of leeway. What is also alarming is that the audience laughed. We call on Netflix Australia to immediately pull that episode, offer a full-throated apology and confirm that they will not air any specials by this individual.”
Carr doubled-down at a performance on Saturday night when a fan asked if he was going to talk about the Holocaust.
"I am going to get canceled, that's the bad news. The good news is I am going down swinging. The joke that ends my career it's already out there. It's on YouTube, Netflix, or whatever, and it's fine until one day it f***ing isn't."